


Fluid Like Strands

by Bam4Me



Series: Fluid Classification [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Big Kid!Steve, Bucky Barnes Knits, Dad!Sam, Kitten!Tony, M/M, Neutral!Rhodey, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Kink, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, POV Bucky Barnes, Pre-Teen!Natasha, daddy!Bucky, non-sexual pet play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 08:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12931404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: Bucky contemplates the differences between then and now, and realizes that though he doesn't remember everything, some things are better for sure.





	Fluid Like Strands

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is something that I came up with last night when I had massive insomnia and could not sleep, someone prompted me the idea (the sequel to this fic) like nearly two years ago, for a fic with daddy Bucky and kitten Tony, and like, I didn't think of much for it at the time, but lol guess what it's got an entire verse now.
> 
> Natasha and Steve are both littles. Steve is about 6-9, and Natasha is about 11-13. Wanda and Peitro are also in this verse and Wanda is about the same age as Natasha, and they go to pre-teen ballet class together it's cute. Peitro is a puppy like Clint. Wanda and Peitro are NOT the movie versions lol fuck those two hard they're Jewish and they live with the XMen with their gay dads deal with it. Peter is a baby aged little and Wade is his daddy cause I'm traditional af. T'Challa is a cat, but he's an older cat, much older, and he's 1000000% sure that Tony and Peter are his babies. Shuri acts as his caregiver for now. 
> 
> avengersnonsexualageplay.tumblr.com

There were many amazing thing about the future that Bucky and Steve were still getting used to. Food with an actual shelf life? Amazing. Food that didn’t run out at the stores? Even better. Television and like fifty sports channels for Steve to binge watch baseball all day long and finally give Bucky some piece of mind because his friend wasn’t in a back alley getting the shit beat out of him whenever Bucky turns his head for two seconds?  _ Fucking amazing _ . Not being under Hydra rule anymore cause Tony Stark was one of the smartest people in the world and had seemed to make it his personal mission to get Bucky his mind back? Literally so amazing Bucky cannot even describe.

 

By far though, one of his favorite guilty pleasure modern world things? And, he calls it a guilty pleasure, because by all means, him and Steve have been being told they’d never make it in the world with hobbies like painting and crafting since they started them as kids, so the two of them were utterly tickled that they had not only the time, but the means to practice them now.

 

See, Steve was an artist. He liked painting, drawing, colouring, all of that fun messy stuff. Bucky was a little different. Painting had always been a good hobby for men back in their time period. Even if Steve was constantly told he’d never make it anywhere in the world with it in that time period, he was seen as the stoic artist. Stoic Bucky’s ass, Bucky has seen that punk cry because he couldn’t get the shading right, and he’s woken up to more magic marker penises on him than he’d care to explain to anyone, Steve wasn’t stoic. 

 

But Bucky… Bucky liked to knit. See, when he was still fairly young, Bucky, being the oldest sibling in his family, was more often with his mother than not as days went by. He’d had nervous hands when he was still little, constantly touching things he shouldn’t be, too twitchy to sit still for long. His mother was great, but even her patience had had it’s limits. By the time he was five, he was knitting as fast as she was. By the time he was ten, he’d learned from Mrs Patterson up the street how to do those fancy cables that she always put in her work and Bucky liked the feel of.

 

His dad had thrown a fit at first. He was a very traditional man, and they’d known Bucky would turn out a Dom before he was ten. Knitting was a  _ sub’s _ job. Making blankets and sweaters for the family. See, Bucky didn’t see it that way. His ma was  _ terrible _ at making socks. They always came out all lopsided and weird and even though Bucky and his dad loved them with all their hearts because she had made them with love for her family, they both had to admit when Bucky started making socks himself, that he was much better at it. Around that time -he was probably about twelve- his dad finally stopped complaining about it. Not that he’d ever really done anything but gripe at them about it anyways. He was a pushover when he came to his family, and that was one thing Bucky was happy with, because he didn’t see the issue.

 

Distinctly, he never remembered his father complaining about it when Bucky had given him a new pair of socks, or when he found a new blanket in the living room to sit under. Bucky remembers… sort of fuzzily, that those had been the time his dad had given him a big smile and nothing but praise for his boy. It hadn’t affected him the same way it would have if Bucky had been a sub, but all kids are looking for their parents approval in the end, right?

 

There was something soothing about the way the fabric pulls and yarn loops are stretched apart as each stitch came together. He still remembers that from when he was a kid, how completely soothing it had been to just watch the way it all came together on the needles. Sometimes it had been the only way his parents could get him to sit still when he was younger. He’d loved it. The first time in about sixty-five years that he’d picked up a pair of needles, he’d had to try three times before he fully remembered how it was supposed to go.

 

Apparently, it wasn’t just crafting supplies that him and Steve were utterly lost over, YouTube was a magical place too. He’s pretty sure he’s watched hours of cabling tutorials along with Steve’s sudden Bob Ross obsession. 

 

This century was amazing. And also the pile of yarn in his bedroom at the compound is getting scary high and he should probably stop buying it, but he’s starting to think he really  _ does _ have zero impulse control and it’s not just Steve joking around when he says it. Heh.

 

He glanced up from the hat he was making -for that weird spider kid that kept coming over, because his suit is ridiculously thin and he didn’t have much covering in the winter and Bucky was a daddy at heart, and could not allow a little to get cold- when he heard a small ‘oops’ on the other side of the couch in the compound living room. Steve was sitting there with a broken pencil in one hand and a sad little frown on his face as he gently set the two pieces on the side table and reached for another one. Steve had strength issues sometimes.

 

Bucky is  _ so _ glad he’s had the last sixty-five years to get used to strength and pressure, because if he was breaking his needles every other day, he’d probably cry.

 

“What are you drawing?”

 

Steve looked over at him with a little smile, before pointing over to the plush carpeted floor where Tony had been laying on his side, mechanical cat ears on his head occasionally twitching towards sounds. He didn’t have a tail on. Not right now at least. Rhodes said he  _ had _ a tail, but there was also an issue with Tony stripping off his clothes and getting cold afterwards, so for right now the kitten was apparently confined to kitten safe clothes that he couldn’t strip out of, like footie pajamas. Bucky had to admit, he was utterly adorable lounging there with his belly up and a sleepy look on his face as he finally started stretching in the wake of his nap.

 

Oh, no wonder Steve was snapping pencils. God that was cute. Even the littles couldn’t resist him.

 

Natasha came into the room just as Tony was starting to get up and curiously explore his post-nap world. She stopped on the carpet once, leaning down so she could pet Tony’s soft curls for a minute, before padding over to Steve’s side as the other little was starting to sketch out another picture with Natasha and Tony this time.

 

“Dad says that Sharon is coming to the compound later because she has papers to give to uncle Phil that uncle Nick told her not to send over the internet because it wasn’t secure but Tony threw a fit earlier cause uncle Nick is stupid-”

 

“Don’t call Nick stupid kiddo.”

 

Natasha looked at Bucky with a little glare for him ruining her fun, and turned back to Steve again, who looked confused and lost right now. “Well, Dad says he’s making gluten free brownies for her cause Jarvis found a new recipe for them and he says this one should taste better and it’s even been proven with  _ science _ or something I don’t know I stopped listening cause I was hungry and my stomach started growling and Dad sighed really loud like when he has to talk to uncle Nick and asked me to ask you if you want to help us bake brownies.”

 

Steve sat up with an eager look on his face, before turning to look at Bucky almost pleadingly. Bucky sighed once, looking back down at his knitting for a moment. “Go on kiddo, but I won’t be helping this time I’m sorry, someone needs to stay in here and watch the kitten.”

 

As a general rule, pets could usually take care of themselves when in headspace. Well, puppies tended to forget that they’re not allowed on the couch, but Bucky is pretty sure they do that on purpose, and sometimes cats get stuck on high things, but generally, most of the time, pets wandering off by themselves is fairly normal as long they were checked up on.

 

But Tony wasn’t a regular pet. He was a lower aged kitten. He even wore diapers and everything. He needed almost constant attention when he was in headspace or he might get hurt. Also he was fairly clingy to the humans who took care of him. Normally, that was Rhodes, but he’d volunteered for kitchen duty that night with Sam and that was a full time job sometimes when you have this many people -this many super soldiers too- in a single place. They’d have asked Bruce, but he’s on a science bender in the labs right now. 

 

It’s no matter, honestly, Bucky loved watching the kitten when no one else was available. It might not exactly be like watching a baby, but Tony could be pretty affectionate when he wanted to be, and it wasn’t a big enough difference that it didn’t satiate that burning itch in his chest whenever he’s gone too long without a Dom drop. He hadn’t told anyone that though. He’s pretty sure that Steve might be upset that he didn’t tell him he needed to take a little down for a while, since that’s how they always used to do it back before the war.

 

He’s never told his friend, but while he  _ loved _ playing with Steve when he was little, it was never really... enough… they always ended up a little upset afterwards because Steve didn’t go little enough to help him settle, and Steve would always be uncomfortable with going younger.

 

This  _ really _ helped. Even just watching the kitten for a few hours was always a help. He was so little in his headspace, even if he wasn’t a little.

 

The kitten finally got off the carpet now making his way over to where Bucky was still sitting with his knitting in his lap, entranced by the yarn like he always was, batting at it once.

 

Steve let out a little sigh, but stood up anyways. “Okay, but we’ll make sure to bring you back something really really good, kay?”

 

“Promise?”

 

“I promise.” Steve bounced out of the room after his sister with an excited look on his face, and Bucky wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them ended up with a whole pan of brownies all to themselves later. They had a way of getting what they wanted with their dad.

 

He looked down at Tony, who was still watching the yarn connecting the ball to the project in Bucky’s lap with an intensity that only came with cats. Bucky grinned at him. “Hey there fella, you gonna come up here and sit with me?”

 

Tony seemed to honestly think that over for a moment before carefully climbing up onto the couch next to him, curling up with his head in Bucky’s lap and a quiet meow demanding that Bucky return to the knitting so he could watch.

 

Bucky laughed once, reaching up to card his fingers through soft hair while Tony hummed against him, making little pleased noises as he relaxed, even though he’d had a nap earlier. Bucky had to hold himself back from leaning in and just peppering kisses all over his cute little face. Lazy kittens are so adorable.

 

Though, according to the rest of the Avengers, Tony had  _ legitimate _ issues sleeping outside of headspace, and the only guaranteed way to get him to sleep was to make him drop, so according to them, him napping constantly while in headspace may very well be the only reason he’s even survived this long in life.

 

And also why he’s apparently the only Avenger who gets dropped regularly for their own health. You can go quite a while without subdrop normally, Natasha and Clint could go the longest without, but when you almost entirely rely on subdrop to sleep, there’s a time limit on how long you can stay without going down. Now days, Clint and Natasha dropped regularly because of their living situation and finally living with their actual caregivers, but other than Natasha’s Tuesday pre-teen ballet classes, Steve and Tony were the ones who had the most regular routine for subdrop now days.

 

It  _ really _ helped things out now that Rhodes lives on the compound with them. The two of them insisted that Tony wasn’t actually Rhodes’s kitten, but he did rely on Rhodes the most when he was in headspace. 

 

Rhodes said that he was a neutral, but Bucky isn’t completely sure how that works, since he’s been taking care of Tony for over twenty years now. He’s decided not to ask. It might seem rude.

 

He looked down at Tony laying against him on the couch with an almost hypnotic gaze to his look, watching the yarn move lightly in the air as he used it from the ball. Bucky had to stop his movements for a minute when he realized Tony looked a little off.

 

“Sweetheart?” He brought a hand down to Tony’s shoulder, careful not to startle him, but Tony just moved into his touch with a pleased hum. Bucky set the hat back down, moving so he could run one hand up and down Tony’s back, and the other through his soft hair. Tony had made his mechanical ears himself, and they were soft to the touch, but the metal of his left hand met metal on the ears and it made a light tapping noise. Tony twitched in place, curling up tighter into him.

 

Bucky quietly shushed him when started whining a little, quickly setting the knitting supplies aside so he could try to figure out what was wrong with the kitten. “Jarvis, can you get Rhodes for me?”

 

“Of course, Sargent.”

 

“Come on fella, look at me, hey there what’s with all this fuss?” Tony seemed to calm down the more physical contact Bucky got between then and Bucky sighed and sat up again, pulling Tony up and into his lap to keep him close while he waited for whatever this was to pass.

 

Rhodey came into the room with a towel over his shoulder, wiping his hands off as he went, slightly dusted with cocoa powder -which meant that brownie making was either well under way, or a complete failure- and came over to kneel next to the couch, reaching out to put a hand in Tony’s hair, gently guiding the kitten to look at him. Tony whined when his head was pulled out of Bucky’s shoulder -warm and comfortable and Tony  _ loved _ this shoulder- and it turned into a whimper when he saw Rhodey.

 

“Hey bubba, what’s with all those tears, I know you couldn’t have been missing me, not when you have Bucky instead.” Bucky didn’t know what that meant, but he knew now wasn’t the right time to ask. “Bucky, his eyes are  _ blown _ what did you do?”

 

Bucky’s eyes went wide and nervous, though the tone was far from accusatory. “He’s in subspace?”

 

Subspace and petspace and littlespace were all different things. Pet and little space is when a pet or little enters a vulnerable stage, one where they’re likely to need caregiver guidance for basic needs, but subspace was a completely different level of vulnerable where you relied on a Dominant for everything because of the way it emptied your thoughts. Subspace could quickly hit a bad subdrop if things weren’t handled properly.

 

And apparently, without even knowing that Tony needed help, he’d already fucked it up.

 

Rhodes let out a thoughtful little hum, leaning in to run his hands through Tony’s hair. “Mostly yeah, hey baby, you with us?”

 

Tony gave him a sweet little meow that made Bucky’s heart clench. Tony was utterly adorable, and he twisted a little in Bucky’s arms, tucking himself up into the crook of his metal arm till he could shove his fast in Bucky’s neck. Bucky had to reach up and gentle remove the kitten ear from his adams apple when it threatened to stab him.

 

Rhodes let out an amused huff at them, shaking his head. “Well, that was easy now, wasn’t it? Tip for the future, when he hits subspace and it look like it might be a bad drop, just pick him up. Don’t worry, you did nothing wrong, in fact, you were doing good before you knew you were doing good.”

 

“What sent him into headspace anyways?”

 

Rhodes looked around for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the ball of yarn off the couch, the two of them watching the way that Tony’s eyes locked on it right away while Rhodes moved it around, staring at it like a tiger stalking prey. For a kitten, he had amazing focus.

 

Rhodes sighed and put the ball back down. “He’s normally a little more… well, less… Yarn doesn’t always do that to him I mean. Tony’s been in meetings all week long. And I mean,  _ all week long _ . This is the first day he’s hit headspace for something other than falling asleep all week, and according to Jarvis and Pep, he’s barely slept enough to survive anyways. He’s… he’s really deep today.”

 

Bucky sighed, turning so he could press his lips against Tony’s hairline when the kitten started squirming again, nearly poking his eye out with one of those soft fuzzy ears. “Well, that makes sense. I guess I could go in the kitchen and help out Sam instead if you want to spend the time while he’s deep with him.”

 

Rhodes shook his head, grinning. “Nah, I might as well leave him with you. He’s fine, really I promise, he’s just sleepy and clingy. Really, this should be right up your alley. Steve says you always went for baby aged littles, right? Tony’s in that area, you should fit in just fine with watching him.”

 

Bucky blinked a few times at him, confused. “Excuse me? I should… but Tony’s not a little?”

 

Rhodes gave him a long look, head cocked to the side consideringly. “Bucky, how much do you know about designation overlap? Because I promise you, Tony is about halfway crossed over with a baby aged little right now. He’s all kitten yeah, but the similarities are there.”

 

Bucky looked down at the kitten, contentedly lounging in his arms with a happy little sleepy sigh. He could feel the arc reactor through Tony’s soft fleece footie pajamas when the kitten shifted once, but the feeling was gone as quick as it came, Tony finding a better position instead.

 

“...I’m a daddy. I can’t be an owner.”

 

Rhodey was pretty sure that Bucky was trying to convince himself more than him. “You don’t have to be. Tony doesn’t need an owner. Well, at least, not the kind of owner you’re thinking of. Tony doesn’t need a strict caregiver who will give him rules. He’s a kitten, but he’s baby aged in that, he’s too little and inhuman to understand rules, too little to even be left alone for a long time really. He’d do really well with a caregiver like you. Like I said, Bucky, don’t worry about it. He’s fine and happy and healthy with you.”

 

Before he could get up, Bucky let loose the question he’s been thinking of for a while now, unable to stop himself even if he did sort of think it might be a little bit rude to pry.

 

“You’re neutral. Why would you take care of him?”

 

Rhodes looked confused this time, a little stiff, maybe a little offended, but after a moment of watching Bucky’s unsure posture, he straightened up a little. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

 

“You’re a neutral, you don’t have any biological need to be dominant or submissive. But on all Tony’s medical forms you’re listed as his primary caregiver in emergency, and there’s a protocol to get you before anyone else if something goes wrong while he’s in subspace. Why do you care?”

 

Rhodes looked like he pitied him for half a second, and Bucky couldn’t bring himself to be mad, a voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Sam quietly reminding him,  _ sadness looks like pity. People don’t pity you, but they’re often sad that you went through such horrible things. They’re not looking down on you, they’re sad because they  _ love _ you and wish you’d had better in life. _

 

Often times when Steve and him actually talked while he was out of headspace about the things Hydra put him through, Bucky had to remind himself that sad looked like pity. He didn’t for a second think that Steve pitied him, but Steve did often tell him he’d wished Bucky had been happy. That Bucky had been away from them. 

 

“For me, not all people, but for me, being neutral doesn’t mean I had designations, or even that I couldn’t play the part of one if I wanted to. I’ve been Tony’s acting caregiver since we were in college. We aren’t in a relationship, so that could change at some point, he could find someone he’d like to put down on the forms as his caregiver instead, but for now, the two of us are, and half been in a long term relationship of benefit. See, it’s not that I don’t want to be a designation, it’s that since I wasn’t born a dom or a sub, I don’t feel the biological drive to do either, but sometimes I feel the want. I’ve dommed for Tony for over twenty years now, and I’ve subbed for multiple partners I’ve had in the past before, I can do it, I’m just looking for the relationship first, the designation second.”

 

Bucky didn’t fully understand it. He came from a time where an owner only took in pets. Where a little only took on a mommy or a daddy. Where a dom chose a sub.

 

But… he loved the time he spent with Tony. It scratched that itch he needed, and often, it was even better than that, a feeling of deep contentedness in his chest that he never wanted to end. Tony always made him feel excitable and happy just at the thought of babysitting him for the day.

 

A daddy, back in the 40s, wouldn’t get all dopey and stupid over a kitten. And a kitten, back then as well, wouldn’t claim to be too little to understand rules, or even wear a diaper.

 

He let out a little wince at that thought. Tony really did need his diapers while in headspace, but back in the 40s, he probably would have had some asshole owner trying to train him to use the potty or even to go in public - even ignoring their pet’s complete humiliation over it, since pet owners have actually softened up a lot in the past century. He didn’t like the idea of some asshole getting a hold of this precious kitten, taking him and… well, anything.

 

He sighed, face buried in Tony’s hair as he looked back up at Rhodes, who looked at them with this rude sort of superior look on his face, like he’d got one over on them -he might have- and frowned. He still didn’t fully understand, but he’s sure there has to be something out there on the internet about it. He’d ask Jarvis later.

 

“Alright. I’ll watch him. How long until dinner?”

 

Rhodes looked down at his watch before counting off. “About five hours. There’s two whole roasts in the oven. I doubt we’ll have leftovers with this crowd, but if there are, it’ll make a nice lunch tomorrow.”

 

Bucky nodded, holding back a yawn and standing up off the couch with the tired kitten still in his arms. “I think me and Tony could use a nap, and as soon as the brownies are ready we won’t get any sleep out here.”

 

Rhodes grinned at him, waving him off with a little smirk. “Alright, just don’t oversleep. I’m not holding Thor back when the food is ready.”

 

Bucky smirked once, and started out of the room with the kitten in his arms. Tony gave a curious meow, waking up out of his dose enough that he could sleepily look around at where they were going. He didn’t seem too concerned over it though, happily ‘chattering’ up at Bucky while they walked.

 

Bucky didn’t address the happy warm feeling in his stomach that he got whenever Tony did stuff like this. In fact, he’ll bask in that feeling, but talking about it was out.

 

For now.

**Author's Note:**

> avengersnonsexualageplay.tumblr.com


End file.
